Application of Synchrotron Radiation X-ray Scattering and Spectroscopy to Soft Matter
Atsushi Takahara, Yuji Higaki, Tomoyasu Hirai, Ryohei Ishige
Abstract
Light produced by synchrotron radiation (SR) is much brighter than that produced by conventional laboratory X-ray sources. The photon energy of SR X-ray ranges from soft and tender X-rays to hard X-rays. Moreover, X-rays become element sensitive with decreasing photon energy. By using a wide energy range and high-quality light of SR, different scattering and spectroscopic methods were applied to various soft matters. We present five of our recent studies performed using specific light properties of a synchrotron facility, which are as follows: (1) In situ USAXS study to understand the deformation behavior of colloidal crystals during uniaxial stretching; (2) structure characterization of semiconducting polymer thin films along the film thickness direction by grazing-incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering using tender X-rays; (3) X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) analysis of the formation mechanism of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT); (4) soft X-ray absorption and emission spectroscopic analysis of water structure in polyelectrolyte brushes; and (5) X-ray photon correlation spectroscopic analysis of the diffusion behavior of polystyrene-grafted nanoparticles dispersed in a polystyrene matrix.